Judge weighs Strauss-Kahn bid for bail

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A New York judge weighed on Thursday whether to release on bail former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who has been charged with sexually assaulting a maid at a luxury hotel.

Strauss-Kahn, held in custody since police pulled him off an Air France plane on Saturday, looked tired as he entered the courtroom room wearing a blue shirt and gray jacket.
He smiled at his wife, former French television journalist Anne Sinclair, and daughter Camille, and stared ahead resolutely during the proceedings.
The hearing on whether to release Strauss-Kahn came as the jockeying to replace him at the top of the IMF intensified. European and the United States sought a speedy succession to prevent a bid by emerging economies to put a potential rival candidate in place.
Strauss-Kahn, 62, stepped down as IMF chief late on Wednesday, tendering his resignation from prison as pressure mounted from the United States and other countries to hand over leadership of the global lender.
He has vowed to fight charges, which he said he denied "with the greatest possible firmness," according to his letter, which was posted on the IMF website.
His Saturday arrest dashed his prospects of running for the French presidency in 2012 and sparked international debate over the 65-year-old tradition that a European heads the IMF.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called for an "open process" to find a successor but sources in Washington said the United States, the largest financial contributor to the IMF, would back a European for the post.
The U.S. push to find a replacement quickly is likely to favor a European replacement because it would be difficult for developing nations to unify around a rival candidate in time to challenge Europe's long hold on the job.
A Reuters poll of economists showed 32 out of 56 think French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde is most likely to succeed him, and diplomats in Europe and Washington said she had backing from France, Germany a ... (reuters)